File No. 861.00/1261
[Enclosure—Translation]
The Lithuanian National
Council to the Secretary of
State
Lausanne, February 7, 1918.
Sir: The Lithuanian Council, in accord
with the Taryba (Council of State of Lithuania), being the
accredited representative in neutral territory of the foreign
interests of the Lithuanian state, has the honor to bring to
your knowledge with the request that you report it to your
Government for such consequences as may be proper in accordance
with international law the following declaration:
The Taryba, supreme organ of the Lithuanian state and
people of the mother country and also the Lithuanian
communities in Russia and America, proclaims on the
foundation unanimously recognized by the international
conscience of the day, of “the right of peoples to
dispose of themselves and of their own fate,” and
further invoking the resolutions of the Lithuanian Diet
which met at Vilnus from the 18th to the 23d of
September 1917, the restoration of a Lithuanian
independent state, with Vilnus for its capital and the
freeing of that state from all bonds whatever they may
be previously entered into with or forced upon by the
neighboring states.
That declaration rests on the twofold consideration:
- (1)
- That Lithuania is a
nation;
- (2)
- That Lithuania has again become a
state.
- 1.
- Lithuania is a strong and powerful nation, capable of
withstanding anything; it gave numberless proofs of this in
its glorious past; the power of its vitality in particular
might have manifested itself during the last century when
the Imperial Government of the Tsars failed in its efforts
to annihilate it; in spite of all the powerful means at the
disposal of that government it could not succeed.
- 2.
- Lithuania also became a state at the time its independence
was recently proclaimed by the Diet of Vilnus. The existence
of that state has never ceased, owing to the strong and
lively national feeling which has endured and never
discontinued its protests—even with arms in hand—against the
violence that was exercised upon it.
At the present time, after 120 years of foreign domination,
Lithuania is again lawfully restored to itself in the form of a
state; it has at its disposal a full complement of the essential
constituent elements.
- 1.
- It is certainly a permanent association of men, able to
live upon its own resources. Its existence as a nation and
its history are in support of that proposition.
- 2.
- It has an existence of its own which is only waiting for
international recognition in order to become fully
sovereign.
- 3.
- It possesses a well-defined territory sufficient to secure
the independence and continuance of the community so
organized.
- Its area covers the following parts of the former Russian
Empire: the governments of Vilnus, Kaunas (Kovna), Gardinas
(Grodna), districts of Novogrodek and of Nisvich, government
of Minsk, the government of Suvalki and the northern part of
the government of Lomja, which would be nearly six times the
area of Belgium.
- 4.
- It manifests and is still manifesting in a positive way a
collective will regularly organized by the Lithuanian Diet
of Vilnus under a supreme authority, that of the Taryba
(Council of State) charged with the shaping of its
destinies. That collective will has never ceased to assert
itself at home and abroad; at home, against the
oppressor—and the present step is another manifestation of
this—abroad, by the initiative to which these presents bear
witness and also by the resolutions and decisions that have
preceded or followed it and which have won the votes of all
Lithuanians, both those of Lithuania and those abroad, and
of which the declaration of independence herein enclosed is
the most characteristic as well as the most decisive
measure.
On December 25, 1917, the Lithuanian National Council, authorized
representative of Lithuania abroad as well as of all the
Lithuanians residing abroad, declared as follows:
Whereas:
- (1)
- Lithuania was independent from the thirteenth
to the end of the eighteenth century;
- (2)
- Lithuania, annexed to Russia by force, never
ceased to claim its independence, even by appeals
to arms in 1830, 1863, 1905;
- (3)
- Lithuania has been shamefully oppressed and
maltreated for 120 years by the Tsar’s government
and, after the revolution, the Provisional
Government itself took no account of its claims in
spite of our adhesion at the time of its coming
into power (declaration of April 20, 1917);
Whereas:
At this time the greater part of Lithuania is occupied by
the Germans, all Russia being in a new situation created
by the recent events and unable to fulfil its duties and
obligations to the Lithuanian people, and on the other
hand, the Lithuanian people in spite of the oppression
for a century, has never up to the present moment failed
loyally to fulfil its obligations to the Russian
state;
The Lithuanian National Council as depositary and
faithful trustee of the supreme interests of the
motherland declares:
- (1)
- That the Lithuanian people from now on
consider themselves released from any bonds with
the Russian state;
- (2)
- That the Lithuanian people, invoking the
principle of the right of all peoples to dispose
of themselves as proclaimed by the powers, has the
right and duty to take charge of its own destinies
and secure recognition of its independence by the
foreign powers.
These constitute a series of conclusive and consistent facts and
manifestations of will which, especially considering the
circumstances in which the Russian community is struggling and
the admission by all the belligerents of “the right of the
peoples to dispose of themselves and of their fate,” warrant the
step we are now taking with a view to securing recognition of
Lithuania as an independent state, both in its own interest and
in that of the international community, in which it only wishes
to take its place with the distinction and merits which have
ennobled its glorious past.
We do not doubt that your Government will kindly receive our
application and so trusting we beg you to accept [etc.]
For the President:
Dr. V.
Kovas
